PZ Myers is on strike.

This is terribly disheartening. Following close on the heels of several defections from ScienceBlogs, PZ Myers has gone on strike. I’m not linking to the post itself because that would defeat the purpose of the strike, but this is a very bad sign for ScienceBlogs and Seed Media Group. ScienceBlogs is a great resource with blogs on all sorts of topics ranging from physics to paleontology to science-based medicine. Pharyngula brings in roughly 40% of the traffic to the site, so without him the whole network may go under. SMG doesn’t seem to get this. Their entire approach to the bloggers that provide the content driving all of those page views is one of neglect. If you neglect those who work for you long enough, they’ll leave. Hell, SMG has apparently been behind in even paying the bloggers their share of the ad revenue.

Now, I’ve been reading Pharyngula for five or six years and it, along with Panda’s Thumb, introduced me to the idea that blogs could have interesting science content and be fun. Additionally, it was the community at Pharyngula that enabled me to feel comfortable calling myself an atheist. That’s worth more than words can say. Being at peace with your worldview (well, most of the time) is a singularly valuable state of mind. So, I’ll be awaiting news of the state of PZ’s strike, and I will be following PZ where ever he goes. After all, we Pharyngulites are just a bunch of sycophants in need of an echo chamber. :)

I’m undergoing horrible Pharyngula withdrawal. It was a place where, to quote the Wizard of Oz, I could “confer, converse, and otherwise hobnob with my brother wizards” and sister witches. There are other blogging communities but Pharyngula suited me admirably. I have a dormant account at Guardian Talk (which has a large number of Americans posting) and another at Snopes (but I was never really happy there, I’m not sure why). I could probably find somewhere to fit in but they won’t be Pharyngula.

Oh well, we must muddle on somehow until PZ goes off strike or sets up his tent elsewhere.